Dark romance with a splash of mystery embodies the spirit of Nathaniel Hawthorne's enigma, The Scarlet Letter. Every mark of ink is purposely placed to provoke the reader to question every single emotion, motive, and action in the fictional Puritan New England society that Hester calls home in the mid-1600s. Hawthorne divulges the many layers of his multidimensional characters' unique identities and actions, but also leaves the reader's desire for clear character analysis unquenched. Combined with the characters' secrets and a hint of dramatic irony, he forces one to wonder who these characters really are. Hawthorne suggests that perceptions surrounding individuals, whether it is their views of themselves or others, are…
“No, dearest Georgiana, you came so nearly perfect from the hand of Nature, that this is the slightest possible defect- which we hesitate whether to term a defect or a beauty- shocks me, as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection (Hawthorne 645).” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” uses symbolism to explore the stain of sin on the world and in the individual. Georgiana is the picture of pure perfection, with one exception, a hand shaped birthmark on her left cheek. There are many themes in this piece. They include, the mark of sin brought in the world and the inability for a human to cleanse themselves from sin. Another theme in this story is the necessary imperfection within people. Each of the characters in “The Birth-Mark” are appalled by the imperfection on the surface. But are unaware of the imperfection within themselves. Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” examines the sinful nature of the world and mankind’s desire to remove it from the surface.…
Nathaniel Hawthorne, well known for his attacks on outlandish Puritan ideology in The Scarlet Letter, has always incorporated some aspect of his life and beliefs into his works. Once again, he has successfully conveyed a strong moral concept by utilizing various literary techniques to reveal a disturbing outlook into a man 's soul. In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne uses strong symbolism, irony, and imagery to illustrate the theme of man as one attempting to escape from evil; oblivious to the fact that sin is an escapable part of human nature. In the story, the reader is guided through Goodman Brown 's inner spiritual conflict between good and evil as he takes a journey which will lead him to a life of despair because of the temptations he succumbs to.…
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birth Mark” is very heavy on science. The main character, Aylmer, is a scientist; the first line of the story is, “In the latter part of the last century, there lived a man of science,” (14). There is no clear delineation between magic and science though, creating a very eerie and superstitious mood as the story progresses and Aylmer falls deeper into his obsession over Georgiana’s birthmark. The text says he was “confident in his science, and felt he could draw a magic circle round her within no evil might intrude” (20). The word science is used to describe illusion, evil, magic, as well as the physical manipulation of another person through surgery or alchemy. Aylmer creates illusions that make him seem like he “held sway over the spiritual world,“ and it’s said that those illusions are…
The most significant symbols in his story include the names representing the characters, young goodman Brown, and his wife, Faith. Both represent their given names, but also symbolizes the moral belief young goodman Brown holds in his heart.…
Beauty is the eyes of the beholder. One man’s beauty can be misery for another. For perfectionists it can be difficult to find the perfection. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” is a story of a couple’s foolish search for perfection which ends with a tragedy. Georgiana, who is the victim of god’s small mistake, is one of the main characters in the story. On the outside, she looked so in love with her husband that she was able to give up her life to satisfy him. On the inside, she was an egotistical woman who wanted everyone to admit that she was the true definition of beauty.…
Jules Zanger in her essay, speaking of the Unspeakable: Hawthorne's "The Birthmark," talks about the different interpretations of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birthmark.” one of the interpretations she talks about “regards the mark on Georgiana Aylmer's cheek as the external sign of her human [and] imperfect condition.”(Zanger, 364) She goes on to talk about Georgiana’s husband Aylmer who tried to remove the mark on her face because it kept her from being perfect. She talks about how people understand that Aylmer’s decision to surgically remove his wife’s imperfection was “either scientific, rational, reformist presumption, or of too aspiring an idealism.” (Zanger, 364) Zanger talks about a lot of things in her essay at the beginning, but she focuses mainly on the gender roles of society of the nineteenth century and how it is shown in the story. The male dominance of the nineteenth century, because Aylmer made the decision and his wife agreed in order to please him in spite of her opposing the idea and initially refusing to remove the “birthmark” that many considered charming, and a sign of her “angelic “being. Zanger addresses the gender roles of the time, when men had their roles in society and women had theirs. Zanger describes Aylmer as dominant, which was the norm. Males were dominant in the nineteenth century. They enjoyed more freedom than females. At the time women lived lives not very different from the lives of slaves; women were like slaves back then. Women had less privileges than males, for example females had no right to vote, no right to education, females were barred from universities, and they were only allowed to work at low-paying jobs; their sole purpose was to marry and reproduce. These dominant natures of men at the time as described by Zanger are shown through the characterization of Aylmer and his wife Georgina. Aylmer in the story is very domineering. Before they were married, Aylmer thought that…
What is a birthmark? Webster’s Dictionary states: A birthmark is a blemish or new growth on the skin formed before birth and is usually brown or dark red in color. There is no need to say that it is not a normal part of one’s body, a birthmark is just a part of being a human. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famously known short story, “‘The Birthmark’, tells of a scientist’s passion to overcome what he deems to be the imperfection of nature” (Cassill) and uses the birthmark its self, Aylmer’s dream, the laboratory and boudoir as symbols of the different ideas of how one gets their selves away from humanity and into a different, more perfect life.…
Show me who you are and I will show you who I am, Christian belief, family, trust, and good versus evil are author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s muse in his novels. Hawthorne’s writings capture the audience by keeping them entangled in the atmospheres he paints for his readers. He also captures the reader with the message underling in each novel. His novels play on the reader’s morals by putting a religious box around his readers. Readers are able to put themselves in Hawthorne’s writings and say what if?…
What would a person risk to please the one that they love? Would they even risk their life to gain a loved one’s acceptance? “The Birth-Mark”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a tragic story that explores the depths that Aylmer and Georgiana face answering this dilemma. Aylmer, a noted and respected scientist, is Georgiana’s husband who becomes overwhelmingly obsessed with the tiny birthmark on her cheek and an ill-conceived notion that it can be removed. High intelligence, profound egotism, and a fanatical perfectionism are…
In Hawthorne's short story, "The Birthmark," he examines that nature is supposed to be imperfect and cannot be changed. Hawthorne's main character, Aylmer is a static and stock character who does not change and is a mad scientist. He is determined to remove his wive's birthmark and is in denial that nature is imperfect and not everything can be changed. Hawthorne examines the theme that nature is supposed to be imperfect he shows it through Aylmers thoughts about how nature works. Aylmer is a part of nature himself and tries to achieve perfection by making his wife perfect and removing the birthmark. Lastly, Hawthorne uses symbolism to once again portray that nature cannot be changed and it is meant to be imperfect. The dream Aylmer has a deception…
Has time changed over several years or do we still think the same? Are imperfections worse on the physical being of a person or the inner soul? Physical attributes were as much important hundreds of years as now. Becoming obsessed and uncomfortable with the way one looks has given scientist a way to mold perfection. Is it worse changing to please ourselves because we need to or doing it to please our significant other because he has become so consumed with perfection, vanity and defects? How is it that one criticizes others small imperfections and not notice how they themselves look and how "the hand of nature" has not been so generous to them either. Inner beauty, is not seen but felt; perfection is not the same…
In the Birthmark we see these themes in Aylmer’s views on women. He sees women as an ideal that makes women beautiful but not useful in todays world, he sees them in a bodiless transcendent world. By Aylmer removing his wife’s birthmark, which ultimately represents her humanity, he is removing the one thing that ties her down…
In the "Birthmark", a story that is more than a century old Georgiana and her husband Alymar are searching for physical perfection, much like we do today. In addition they manifested their obsession with physical perfection much like we do today. Georgiana was born with a crimson birthmark in the shape of a hand. This birthmark was on her cheek. One day Georgiana discovers that this birthmark "shocks" her husband and he is deeply bothered by it. Georgiana finally realizes this after Alymar says "Georgiana . . . has it ever occurred to you that the mark upon your cheek might be removed?" After discussing the birthmark several times with her husband, a talented scientist, Georgiana decides to have it removed by him. It is never stated in full detail exactly how Alymar is going to remove this birthmark, we assume that it will be a surgical procedure. At one…
Society generally is ruled by many sets of cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs by which human actions are determined whether if they are right or wrong. The system of principles and judgements is called morality. It’s often generalized by a culture or group, and so it serves to regulate the behavior of its members. The word conformity means to act in a behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. Conformity to such “codification” is needed because it gives balance to society. Generally speaking, people conform in ways that keep things running in a smooth manner and keep them from a harsh crash of scrutiny that nonconformists suffer, especially when their nonconformity causes them to question…